Crisis
by MermaidGirl34
Summary: When Cleo is captured by Oceanographers, it's up to Emma, Rikki, and Lewis to save her...but can they? Cleo might be beyond help, and her disappearance won't go unnoticed forever. And what is it that Lewis keeps forgetting?
1. Mangled Thoughts

**(A/N: My first H20: Just Add Water story! ****Enjoy!)**

Cleo sighed and turned the page of her math book, staring down at the meaningless numbers.

Why couldn't she understand math? It was so simple when Lewis helped her…

_Lewis._

Cleo felt tears welling up in her eyes at the thought of him. She missed Lewis. Ever since she broke up with him, Cleo had missed him. She knew she did the right thing…she and Lewis really did need to take a break from each other. And Lewis_ had_ really been getting on her nerves.

But then… Lewis had started going out with Charlotte. Cleo couldn't help it, she was jealous of Charlotte. Lewis had always been special just to her… Now, he'd moved on, because she'd made that fateful choice in her bedroom that day to break up with him.

For not the first time, the "What if's" that had been drifting through her mind since the break-up returned in full color. What if she hadn't broken up with Lewis? Would they'd still be together? Would Lewis have even been interested in Charlotte? Would Lewis be sitting beside her right now, explaining her math in his calm, understanding and patient voice?

Feeling once again like she was going to cry, Cleo closed her math book. There was no way she could concentrate now. She had to go somewhere. Clear out her thoughts.

_"Mako."_ She decided. _"I can always think better at Mako Island."_

Pushing back her chair and grabbing her bag, Cleo called out to her father, who was watching TV in the other room.

"Hey dad?" she yelled.

"Mmmmhmmm?" Mr. Satari responded distractedly, never taking his eyes of the screen.

"I'm going to go take an evening walk for a bit, okay?"

"Sure honey, just be back before**-**"

Cleo was out the door before he even began to form the sentence.

~O~

At the beach, Cleo quickly ducked behind the outcropping of large rocks near the shore. It was a big mound of stone at the edge of the beach line, so that anyone who happened to be at the beach at the time couldn't see anyone or anything that happened to be behind it. So just in case there was any late-time beach-dwellers, Cleo decided to play it safe.

Once she was sure she was completely concealed by the rock, Cleo dropped her bag and raced into the lapping waves. Before her mermaid-genes could make her lose her feet and fall flat on her face in the shallow water, Cleo dived deep into the cool sea. By the time her tail started to form, she was in about four feet deep waves, easy to swim in.

She waited a short moment for her transformation to be completed; before taking off toward Mako at her top mermaid momentum, leaving a trail of furious bubbles in her wake.

She made it to Mako's beautiful coral reef border in record time.

_Too bad Emma and RIkki aren't here, _she thought, grinning as she slowed. Cleo had never beaten the two other mermaids at a race, and this time she thought she might have had a chance.

Swimming lazily through the array of brightly colored coral and tropical fish, Cleo felt a sense of calm wash over her for the first time in weeks.

_Who'd of thought fish could make a person feel better? _She asked herself, smiling happily as she watched a practically pretty blue fish with a long, ribbon-like tail swim around a sea-anemone, careless and free. Cleo was sure that it didn't have a care in the world. Lucky fish.

Suddenly, the blue fish darted into the sea anemone and disappeared in a flash of scales.

Cleo frowned, disturbed by its departure for some reason, but shrugged. Fish were easily scared. The slightest shadow might make them hide. She would just find another pretty fish to stare at.

But when she looked around, no more fish were to be seen. They had all disappeared.

_What could have scared all those fish at once? _Cleo wondered.

And then she saw it.

A figure floating a little ways off from Cleo, dressed in a wet suit complete with flippers, goggles and a big, metal oxygen tank strapped to their back.

A figure that held a camera.

.

.


	2. Surrounded

Cleo's eyes widened at the sight of the diver and she quickly dived into the underwater entrance tunnel to the Moon Pool.

Pressing herself against the side of the tunnel she stayed very still. She didn't even want to _think_ about what would happen if that diver got a picture of her.

She waited for a long moment, half-expecting the diver to appear at the entrance of the tunnel.

No one appeared though and Cleo closed her eyes, letting her heartbeat return to normal. Then she turned and swam the rest of the way into the Moon Pool.

And collided head first into something hard.

Falling head over tail, Cleo backtracked in surprise, her vision temporarily obscured by bubbles.

The bubbles soon disappeared though, and Cleo found herself face to face with a diver in a blue and black wet suit, staring at her with wide, goggled eyes.

Cleo screamed, releasing a flurry of air bubbles, and swam off as fast as her tail let her into the first direction that she turned in.

**FWUMP!**

She slammed into something else. Looking up, her eyes fell on yet another diver, this one wearing a bright pink wet suit, who immediately moved to try and grab her.

Dodging the diver with inhuman speed, Cleo swam in another direction only to stop short as she was blocked by _another _diver, this one wearing a green wet suit with bright neon-pink goggles.

There was only one place left for her to escape.

The tunnel.

Narrowing her eyes in a rush of determination, Cleo barreled through the divers and made a beeline for the tunnel. One of the divers managed to grab her fin as she whizzed by, but she shook it off with one last burst of speed and left the Moon Pool.

Scraping her arms on the slimy walls and feeling like her heart was going to burst out of her chest, Cleo prayed that the divers couldn't catch up to her.

Only when she had swum half the tunnel did she dare to glance back.

To her relief, none of the divers were in sight.

Feeling a bit smug, Cleo smiled. Everything was okay. She could see the end of the tunnel and...

Cleo suddenly skidded to a stop, reeling back like a car in reverse.

Hovering at the end of the tunnel was the first diver, holding up a underwater camera to his goggles. Before Cleo could move, there was an echoing **CLICK**, followed by a bright flash.

Cleo screamed as the light blinded her, recoiling and covering her eyes.

Her vision then became disoriented. The world was a blur of colors and shapes she could not make out. She couldn't see!

A wet glove seized her arm and she hit it away fiercely, only for it to be replaced by another. And another.

The last thing Cleo saw as her vision started to return was the pink diver pull out some sort of needle and sticking it into her arm. She remembered feeling horrible pain traveling up her arm and seeing a flurry of bubbles as she screamed.

Then everything went black.

**.**

**.**


	3. Captured

Cleo awoke with a groan. She hurt all over. What happened? Where was she?

Feeling woozy, and oddly unsteady, Cleo opened her eyes, but found that everything was blurry. She could only make out hazy outlines of the things around her. She attempted to stand, but found she couldn't. Feeling down to where her legs were, Cleo was surprised to find she didn't have any.

Why was she in mermaid form? Was she wet?

After a quick power check with her hand, Cleo found she was, indeed, in water, though it felt weird… almost gritty, like it had something in it.

Where was she?

Then it all came flooding back. Mako. The divers. The camera. The needle.

Cleo sat bolt upright, thrashing her head around wildly. Where were the divers? Where was she? Still at Mako…?

Her vision was still hazy, but Cleo could tell that the place she was in was clearly not Mako Island. No divers were visible. In fact, nothing was. Cleo seemed to be all alone at a blank, empty ocean bottom, without any sand, fish… or anything. Starting to really freak out, not having known how long she had been asleep, Cleo didn't know how much time she had to find her way back home before her dad noticed her absence. Picking herself up, Cleo started swimming in the direction she thought might be the way home. Her vision was still not fully restored, but she could at least swim in a straight line, it seemed.

**THUNK!**

Without warning, she rammed into to something hard.

What was with her and running into things lately?

Furious with herself for being so clumsy, she changed directions and began to swim another way.

**THUNK!**

Again, Cleo ran into something. Truly agitated now, she held her hand out and felt the object, to see what it was. She felt something smooth and cool meet her skin, like glass.

What in the world was something like _that _doing in the ocean?

She stared at its still-blurry outline for a moment, trying to think of what it might be.

Maybe it was just junk?

Finding no other logical conclusion of what the mysterious object might be, and not able to identify it correctly until her vision returned to normal, Cleo once again changed directions.

**THUNK!**

A furious pillar of bubbles escaped Cleo's lips as she reached out her hand to feel the same smooth object again.

That couldn't be possible. She had gone a different direction every time! What was going on?

Deeply troubled and wishing her sight would return faster, Cleo decided to find out why this object seemed to be in front of her wherever she swam. Putting her hand on the object, she let her hand run across it, following it horizontally. It had to end somewhere, right?

Finally, Cleo reached it, but no open water met her fingers like expected. Instead, there was a little crease, and the wall started all over again in a different direction.

She couldn't believe it. No way!

She conducted the same experiment on the other wall, and met the same results. Swimming up, she found she could not surface; she just met another smooth wall above her. Same results occurred with the ground.

She was caged in a rectangle prism, made by the smooth, glassy material.

Cleo felt her blood turn to ice.

There was no escape.

"Having fun, are we?" A female voice asked suddenly from a little bit in front of Cleo. Cleo jumped so hard she hit her head on the glassy cage's ceiling.

She heard the voice giggle softly. "I can see that your vision has not completely restored from the drug. Don't worry; it'll come back soon enough."

_Drug? _Cleo thought, pondering the women's choice of wording.

"Who…who are you?" Cleo asked the women fearfully, before grasping her neck in surprise. She didn't know she could talk underwater!

Then again, she had never tried.

"Where am I?" she asked after a small moment of silence, trying out this new skill. Her voice came out in bubbles and sounded higher than usual. "Where have you brought me?"

"Ah, full of questions," The mysterious women said, and Cleo could tell by her voice that she was smiling. "Let's not answer them all yet. First things first. Let's get those eyes cleared up. Carl!"

The last shout wasn't directed to Cleo, and another wave of fear for the unknown ran through her. Where in the world was she?

After a few moments, Cleo heard some rapid breathing, and then another voice spoke. "You… you called, Doctor?" It asked. It was a male voice this time. He seemed to have run some lengths to reach the women, and was out of breath.

"Yes," The women said. "Do you mind grabbing that fansy-dancy camera of yours and snapping a photo of this mermaid?"

There was a pause, then, "I already got a picture of her."

"I know." The women said, clearly impatient, "but I need you to take another one. For different purposes. The flash will clear her eyesight from the knock-out drug."

There was a pause, and then the male—Carl, Cleo remembered—murmured an "Okay."

As he departed, Cleo could hear his shoes echo on solid ground, confirming her suspicion that he wasn't underwater… but she was. Where _was_ she? Who were these people and what were they going to do with her? Frightened and confused, Cleo couldn't do anything but nervously twist and turn while she waited for what would happen next.

What was going to happen next? She had no idea.

And that scared her.

It turned out, what happened next was that Carl returned with his camera.

"Got it," he said to the women, who hadn't said a word while she had waited for Carl to return.

"Good," she said curtly and Cleo suddenly felt a pair of eyes on her shoulder. She shivered. She had a feeling that those eyes belonged to the women, and she wasn't sure if she liked it.

"Whenever you're ready," The women said flatly, and then a brilliant flash of light blinded Cleo for a second time.

Rubbing the stars out of her eyes fiercely, Cleo realized how stupid she had been. She had let him take a photo of her!

Slowly, her eyesight started to return to normal and everything came into focus. Cleo looked around her, finally able to completely see where she was being held, and by whom.

She nearly passed out.

She was in a huge, rectangular glass prism, filled to the brim with a deep blue, fake-looking water. On top, a large water-bottle type thing was hooked to the cieling, releasing some kind of chemical into the water.

At that moment, Cleo knew exactly what was happening, exactly why the water had felt weird when she first woke up, and exactly what she was in.

She was in a tank.

The tank was in a huge room, filled with multiple tables crowded with all sorts of scientific equipment. It all looked very neat and sciency, like something Lewis would like, Cleo figured.

The room was empty except for two people, a man and women, standing before her through the glass. The man was wearing a wet suit, holding a water-proof camera in one hand, and a pair of diving goggles in the other.

So this was Carl. Cleo squinted at him, recognizing his wet suit. He was the first diver she'd seen. The one with the camera. He looked fairly young, and a little out of place. Like an apprentice.

The women next to him was much taller and older-looking with long, blond hair. She wore a white doctor's lab coat over a bright pink diving suit.

The woman was the diver who had ejected the needle into her arm.

A knock-out drug of some sort, Cleo figured.

The women smiled upon seeing Cleo's fearful expression. "Hello, little mermaid," she said softly, a smile playing one her lips. Not a nice one.

Cleo simply gaped, not being able to make out words.

The pink diver's smile only widened. "Oh, where are my _manners?_" she said sarcastically, pretending to give Cleo a 'forgive me' type of look. "I haven't introduced myself. I am Doctor Bravemen, and this is my assistant, Carl Braker. And who might you be?"

Cleo, though still in shock, wisely ignored the question. If they didn't know who she was yet, she wanted to keep it that way.

Instead, Cleo pressed a question of her own. "Where am I?" she hissed. "Why did you drug me and where have you taken me?"

"Ah," the doctor said, still smiling pleasantly. "Right to the point. So you _do _remember the little shot I gave you over at Mako. How sweet."

Cleo merely glared stonily at her. She liked to think of herself as a pretty nice person. Not quick to judge, like Rikki, and slow to anger. But this woman was no normal human. How _dare _she just stand there and smile at her without telling her where she was? If she wasn't behind glass, Cleo would have punched her, here and now.

"Where. Am. I_?"_ Cleo asked again, her voice low and menacing. Normally, this would make Lewis take a step back in fright.

But Lewis wasn't here right now. She needed to fight her own battles.

"Tsk, tsk," Doctor Bravemen sighed. "Now that's just impolite. I believe _I'm _the host here, and _I _will tell you what you want to know _only _if I decide to. Are we clear?"

Cleo merely glared at her, eyes hard.

Doctor Bravemen rolled her eyes but turned, striding briskly over to a table nearby and picking up a clipboard.

"Now, to answer your question, you are in Division B on floor three of the Gold Coast Marine Research Factuality, contained in tank number 486," she read. Smiling, she looked up from her clipboard for a moment to savor Cleo's look of horror. "There," she said, smirking. "Is that the information you wanted?"

It took a moment for Cleo to find the words to answer. "R-reasearch factuality?" she sputtered.

Doctor Bravemen smiled. "Yes, my dear mermaid. The Gold Coast Marine Research Factuality. We're made of a large group of scientists and divers who find and collect mutant fish and sea creatures to bring back here to be tested and observed to find out more about them. Usually, we try to discover how they've changed into their mutant form, and why. Normally, we only manage to find cross breads between two fish, or a birth-defected double-tailed sea horse-but you, my friend, are quite the remarkable find." She smiled her evil smile again.

It took a moment for this to sink in, but when it did, Cleo felt herself sink a bit in the water.

"No…" she moaned. Their worst fear had just come true: she had been caught. She was stuck in some freak testing place, waiting to be poked and prodded by scientists for the rest of her life.

She could see the headline in the newspaper already. **CLEO SERTORI—MERMAID! **She shuddered to think how that would turn out. How would her Dad respond? He'd probably be shocked that Cleo hadn't told him. And her sister? She had suspected that Cleo was a mermaid before, but Cleo was able to throw her off the trail, and convince her that she wasn't one. What would she do now? Gloat probably. She wouldn't care if Cleo was in a tank for the rest of her life. Her sister would just praise her own detective skills, and rub it in Cleo's face through the glass.

Her horrible thoughts only kept progressing from there. What would Emma do? And Rikki? What if they were caught too? Now that they knew that there was one mermaid that had swum to Mako Island, the scientists would definitely be on the lookout for more. What about her mother, and Charlotte, and Lewis, and Elliott…?

Suddenly, Cleo heard a door open and shut. Pivoting her body around, she realized that Doctor Bravemen and Carl were no longer by her tank, but at a table on the far wall, writing on something Cleo couldn't see. Next to it was a door Cleo hadn't noticed when she had surveyed the room before. Now, a boy with sandy-blond hair and wearing green army shorts entered and walked over to Doctor Bravemen.

"Doctor Bravemen," he said, addressing the evil pink diver-scientist. "I finished the assignment you gave me. The DNA matches the one of a catfish. Is that right?"

Before Doctor Bravemen could respond, Cleo yelled a single, five-letter name.

"LEWIS?"

.

.


	4. Promise

"Lewis?" Cleo yelled in shock, eyes wide as she pressed her face to the glass.

The sandy haired boy whipped around and his eyes landed on Cleo, squashed up against the glass of the tank and staring at him in shock.

His jaw dropped.

"Cleo?" Lewis exclaimed, dropping his clipboard and running over to her, leaving a surprised Dr. Braveman behind. "What are you doing here?"

"Lewis!" Cleo exclaimed, "Yougottagetmeouttahere! "

"Whoa!" Lewis said, holding up his hands, "Slow down! What happened?"

"I was swimming and she got me and drugged me and I woke up here!" she gushed, eyes wide and pleading. "You've got to help me! She knows my secret, and who knows who she'll tell if we don't-"

"Well, well, well, Lewis."

Whirling around, Lewis came face to face with Dr. Braveman. Eyes wide, he backed up a step, clearly unnerved by her evil smile.

"Is this young mermaid a friend of yours?" the doctor asked, staring intently at Lewis with her hands clasped behind her back. Her expression said she wasn't going to be accepting any "I've never seen her in my life," stories.

"Uh, well, we…uh..." Lewis stuttered. "Well this is… uh… Cleo Sertori, my girlfriend and—wait! I mean, my _friend_ and…"

"Lewis!" Cleo exclaimed, aghast. He hadn't really said her full name, did he?

Lewis looked sheepish and quickly blundered a lame excuse. "Uh, did I say Sertori? I meant, uh, Santara! I don't know anyone with the last name Sertori, and-"

"Cleo Sertori?" Dr. Braveman inquired, ignoring Lewis's lame excuses. "Hmmm… Carl, look her up."

The photographer standing behind her nodded and left the room.

Dr. Braveman smiled and studied Cleo's tail for a moment. "Where do you know this girl from, Lewis?" she asked, not taking her eyes off Cleo. "And don't lie, please. You're a horrible liar."

Lewis looked bewildered.

"Lewis." Cleo said, her voice low, and urgent. "Don't. Tell. Her. _Anything."_

Lewis looked torn as he searched for the right words. Finally, he took a big breath and turned to the Braveman.

"Dr. Braveman, you _can't _keep Cleo here like this," he said weakly.

Braveman smiled. "And why not?" she inquired calmy.

"Because…" Lewis stuttered. "Because she's a human citizen and therefore has the right to freedom!"

Dr. Braveman smiled. "Ah, and _there _is why I _can_ and _will_ keep Cleo here, Lewis," she said, grinning.

"Wha-wha-what?"

"You said she is a _human _citizen, and therefore has the right," the scientist pointed out, glancing back at Cleo's tail with a smile. "But from the look of things… I don't think Cleo is really considered _human _anymore."

"But she…but…"

"Dear Lewis, why don't you just face the facts?" Braveman interrupted coldy. "I _can _keep Cleo here legally, and _will. _And I can tell you right now, there is _nothing _you can say to change my mind."

Suddenly, her voice softened and she put a hand on Lewis' shoulder. "Lewis, you're a great young scientist," she praised. "Can't you see what a _great _scientific discovery this is? A real, live, mermaid! I know she's your friend, but can't you forget that for the sake of science?"

"Lewis, I know you love science, but you _can't _help her!" Cleo sobbed frantically. "She wants the whole world to know what I am! Lewis, _please!_" At this Cleo's voice cracked and she slumped down to the bottom of the tank in despair.

That was all he needed. Lewis's face hardened. "No," he said. "You will _not_ harm her."

Dr. Braveman looked disappointed. "Suit yourself," she sighed. "It's not like you we really needed you to help anyway. You are dismissed."

"What?"

"You are _dismissed. _Go. Leave. We're closing up the building in five minutes."

"Wait!" Lewis exclaimed. "What about Cleo?"

"What about her?"

"You can't do anything to her unless I tell you more about her."

Dr. Braveman laughed. It was a cold, unfeeling laugh. "My dear Lewis, you've already told me everything," she said. "All I needed was a name. The rest of your information has no value to us."

Lewis looked flabbergasted.

Braveman smiled again. "Now. I must attend to Carl," she announced. "And I want you out of this building by the time I get back, Lewis, or it might just cost you your little job here."

And with that, she turned on her heel and left the room.

But Lewis didn't leave.

"Cleo, I want you to listen to me," he said seriously.

"But-"

"But nothing!" he interrupted, eyes hard. "I want you to listen to me. I _will _find a way to get you out of here, okay? I _will_. I'll tell Emma and Rikki, and we'll…we'll come up with something, okay? Whatever happens, I want you to know that."

Cleo stared at him for a long time. "Thanks for not telling her anything," she whispered. "She'll probably find out everything anyway, and you might have slipped up, but you stuck with me. Thanks."

Lewis's gaze softened. "I'll always stick with you," he told her truthfully. "Always. And it's _my _fault that they know your name now. _Mine. _And I'm going to make up for that. I promise." He rose, and started towards the door.

As he turned the handle, he looked back and muttered, "Promise."

Then he closed the door, and Cleo was alone again.

In the silence, Cleo ran Lewis's words through her head over and over again. _We'll find a way to get you out. I promise._

The problem was, Cleo wasn't sure if he could.

~O~

Emma walked down the walkway leading to the beach with Rikki, full of worry. Cleo hadn't answered any of their calls, and although Rikki assured her that Cleo was probably just at Mako and didn't have her cell with her, Emma couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. She just didn't know what.

The two mermaids walked across the beach normally and slid behind their favorite rock as usual, talking and undertone as they began to run toward the waves to head to Mako.

They both stopped short halfway.

Lying in the sand was Cleo's bag, covered with sand that had blown over it in its long period of sitting there. Emma's eyes widened and she walked over to it, picking it up with worry shining in her eyes.

"Something's wrong," she whispered.

"But what-" Rikki started, but was cut off by a shout behind her.

"Emma! Rikki!"

Both girls whipped around to see the frantic form of Lewis running toward them, sending sand flying everywhere. He reached the rock and leaned on it, breathing heavily, his face flushed.

"We…we have a problem," he gasped.

.

.


	5. Uh Oh

"No, that won't work," Emma sighed, crumbling up the piece of paper in her hands and throwing it away. The waste bucket beside the coffee table was already overflowing with crumbled notebook sheets, and the ball came to rest on the ground along with many others.

The blond mermaid leaned back on the couch, looking defeated. She, Lewis, and Rikki were sitting in Emma's living room, trying to come up with a rescue plan to help Cleo. Rikki was the only one still holding a sheet of paper.

"I still think-" she began, but both Lewis and Emma cut her off.

"NO!" They yelled in unison, and Rikki huffed.

"Oh, c'mon," She said, frowning. "Why not?"

"Rikki." Emma said seriously, eyeing the other mermaid. "It's _illegal_."

"So?" Rikki demanded. "It doesn't look like we've come up with anything better!"

She gestured to the pile of discarded papers.

Neither Emma or Lewis could argue with her there.

There was a small silence.

"I say we just sneak in with ski masks on, and-"

"NO RIKKI!"

"Okay, okay! Fine! But what else can we do?"

Lewis sighed, and closed his eyes. "Well we have to do _something," _he said. "We can't just _leave _her in there! Maybe we could talk to Dr. Braveman and-"

"Lewis we've been through this," Emma interrupted. "There is just no reasoning with that woman. We're going to have to find a way to get Cleo out on our own, _without _breaking the law."

She glared at Rikki as she said this, who had opened her mouth to interrupt. Glaring at her, Rikki settled for crossing her arms and sulking. "Unless we come up with a better idea, I don't see many other options," she concluded.

Just then, the doorbell rang merrily throughout the house.

"Quick! Hide the papers!" Emma hissed, getting up off the couch to answer the door. Rikki and Lewis both grabbed a handful of crumbled pages and quickly began to stuff them in the first places they found.

As Rikki stuffed the last page in between the cushions of the couch, they heard Emma open the door and say, "Oh. Um, hello Mr. Sertori."

Lewis and Rikki looked at each other in horror. In their worry about Cleo, they had completely forgotten about Cleo's dad!

"Hello Emma," Mr. Sertori greeted worriedly. "Is Cleo here? She said she was going out for a bit last night, but she hasn't returned. I was wondering if she'd stopped her for the night and forgot to call me?"

"Um…" Emma replied slowly, "N-no, Cleo's not here. Did you check to see if she was at work?"

Mr. Sertori nodded. "I looked there already," he said. "But no one has seen her. If she's not here, than I don't know _where _she's gone off to. You're sure she hasn't called you?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Emma said, but Mr. Sertori wasn't listening.

"What about you Lewis? Or Rikki?" he asked, leaning through the doorway,and catching sight of Cleo's two good friends sitting innocently on the couch. "Have you seen Cleo?"

Both of them shook their heads in earnest.

Turning to Emma, Mr. Sertori asked if he could come in.

"Uh, sure," Emma said, stepping aside to let him through.

Cleo's father then entered the house and walked straight into the living room with narrowed eyes. "Cleo!" he called in the direction of the staircase. "If you're here, I want you to come down this instant!"

He waited a moment.

No response.

Sighing, he sat down in the nearest chair, looking defeated and worried. "This isn't like Cleo," he said, shaking his head. "She always calls if she can't get home by curfew, and she hasn't answered any of my calls. I'm not sure _what _to think anymore."

"I'm sure she's fine," Lewis said, patting him awkwardly on the shoulder, but Mr. Sertori didn't seem to hear him. He was staring at something half-hidden under Lewis's chair. Without warning, he stood up and grabbed it, holding it up in disbelief.

It was Cleo's bag.

Emma had brought it back with her from the beach when Lewis had told her the news.

Mr. Sertori's face slowly began to turn purple with rage. He stared at the three of them accusingly. "You _lied _to me," he snarled. "Where is she? WHERE IS CLEO**?" **

Before any of them could answer, Mr. Sertori's cell phone rang.

The enraged father set down Cleo's bag roughly, still looking murderous, and slipped his phone out of his pocket.

"Hello?" he said.

Silence, then, "Yes, this is he. And who is this?"

There was some chatting on the other end, then, "She's WHAT**?"**

Lewis gulped.

There was some more talking on the other end, before Mr. Sertori lowered the phone slowly from his ear, eyes wide with shock.

"What," he said slowly, "is all this about Cleo being a _mermaid?"_

.

.


	6. The Secret's Out

"Um…ah…well…" Emma stuttered, looking sheepish. "We…she…"

She kept going, but Mr. Sertori was no longer paying her any attention. Instead, he rounded on Lewis and Rikki.

"All right, what's the joke?" he demanded.

Emma, Rikki, and Lewis looked at each other. "

Um…I don't know what you mean by-" Lewis started, but Mr. Sertori cut him off.

"I know this is just one of your sick teenage jokes," he growled. "You _expect _me to believe even for an _instant _that that phone call was really from a Doctor Braveman at the Gold Coast Marine Researchwhatsit, or that Cleo is really some sort of freakish semi-_mermaid?"_

He glared at them all, as if daring them to oppose him.

No one said anything.

"WHERE. IS. CLEO? _**"**_Mr. Sertori growled, practically spitting fire.

Silence.

"Well, you already know!" Rikki exploded finally.

Emma gave her a warning look. "Rikki…" she started.

"Oh, what's the point?" Rikki exclaimed, throwing up her arms. "It's not like we could keep it a secret forever anyway. We might as well tell him."

Emma shook her head, mouthing 'NO', but Rikki wasn't done. "If you want to know where Cleo is," she said firmly, "Then first you need to know." She sat back in her chair, as if that solved the matter.

"Know _what?" _Mr. Sertori demanded, looking confused, angry and bewildered.

When Rikki simply smirked at him, Emma sighed. "Who's going to explain?" she asked, giving in to Rikki and ignoring Mr. Sertori's glares.

Neither Rikki nor Lewis answered.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said stonily. "I'll explain."

Perching herself on the end of the couch, she took a big breath. "That wasn't a fake phone call, Mr. Sertori," she told the distressed father seriously. "That really was Doctor Braveman from the Gold Coast Testing Department, and that _is _where Cleo is."

Mr. Sertori stared at her in disbelievement. "You're saying there really _is _a Doctor Braveman? And she has Cleo in some sort of _testing lab?_" he asked, disbelief still written clearly on his face.

Emma glanced at Lewis and Rikki. "Um, sort of, yeah," she said truthfully.

Mr. Sertori sat back in his chair, looking skeptical. "Okay then," he said. "Suppose I believe you. Why is she being kept there?"

"Because…because…" Emma stopped and took another big breath. This was it.

"Because Cleo is a mermaid," she got out finally.

"And so are we." Rikki added quietly.

Mr. Sertori looked at them both disbelievingly. Suddenly, he rounded on Lewis.

"And you _believe _this nonsense?" he asked him.

Lewis met Mr. Sertori's gaze. "It's true," he said quietly but sincerely. "I've seen them. With tails."

Mr. Sertori shook his head. "And how, even if it is true-which I still sincerely doubt-would that be even possible?" he asked demandingly. "How could my Cleo be a mermaid?"

Emma, Rikki, and Lewis looked at each other before bursting into explanation at once. Together, they told Mr. Sertori about Mako Island, the Moon Pool, and how Emma, Rikki, and Cleo had been in it when the moon had shown through the top of the volcano. They explained how the water had begun to froth before suddenly stopping eerily. They explained that to this day, none of them truly knew what had happened, only that the moon had affected the pool and made it magic somehow. They explained to him how when they had returned home, they didn't think anything was different…until each of them made their own separate contact with water…and found they could grow a tail.

Mr. Sertori listened to all this in silence, disbelief still shining in his eyes. When they finished the explanation, he turned to Lewis again.

"So I suppose you're some sort of merman, then?" he asked sarcastically.

Lewis grinned and shook his head. "No," he said. "I just know their secret."

Mr. Sertori just shook his head. "I don't believe you," he said firmly, glaring at Lewis. "_All_of you," he added, addressing Rikki and Emma as well. "This is ludicrous!"

"Fine!" Rikki exploded suddenly, standing up. "Then I guess if you're too thickheaded to accept the truth, then we'll just have to _prove _it to you."

_"What?" _Lewis and Emma exclaimed in unison, rounding on her in horror, while Mr. Sertori tried to comprehend what she was saying.

Before he could say anything, both Lewis and Emma blew up on Rikki at once.

"If you expect me to turn into a mermaid in my own living room where Elliot or my mother could see me-"

"What would happen if someone comes home and sees you and Emma sitting on the couch with tails where your feet should be-"

"What are you thinking to even _suggest_-"

"I think it's a great idea," a low voice said behind the two outraged teenagers said calmly, and they all whirled around to see Mr. Sertori sitting in his arm chair, hands folded.

"I think it's a great idea, Rikki," he said smugly, looking at the headstrong mermaid slyly. "Prove to me that you and Emma are mermaids."

The look on Mr. Sertori's face showed that he fully doubted they would be able to show him, and he expected Rikki to falter and babble like Emma had when he had hung up on Dr. Braveman and asked what was going on. But to his surprise, Rikki didn't.

"Fine," she said flatly, turning on her heel and stalking off toward the kitchen.

The three sat in silence for a while as they waited for her to return.

From the kitchen, they heard the sound of the faucet being turned on and the deafening sound of running water broke the strained quiet.

Then the water shut off and Rikki returned, wielding a glass of tap water, which she set on the coffee table pointedly.

"Each of us has a power, Mr. Sertori," Rikki said coldly as she sat down again. "We found _that_ out a little bit after we found we could grow a tail."

Mr. Sertori looked at her with a confident sense of calmness. "What kind of power?" he inquired. "Like some kind of superpower?"

"Sort of," Rikki said, shrugging. "We each can do something different with water. Emma can freeze it, Cleo can morph it to do whatever she wants, and I can heat or boil it."

She explained it rather casually, as if she was simply having a mild conversation with a friend as she explained a new feature on her cell phone.

Mr. Sertori cocked his head ever so slightly. "Show me," he said simply.

Rikki turned to Emma. "You first," she said.

"What?" Emma said, horrified. It was clear she was uncomfortable with all this. "Why me?"

"Because you can freeze it, and then I can _un_freeze it," Rikki explained, rolling her eyes as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

Emma sighed and dragged the glass toward her. She held up her hand, ready to freeze it, but before she could, Mr. Sertori interrupted.

"Wait," he said.

Emma froze and looked at him.

"Let me inspect it, and make sure this isn't one of your silly teenage tricks," Mr. Sertori said accusingly, reaching for the glass. Emma let him have it, eyeing the glass as if it was something lethal.

Cleo's father then conducted a thorough inspection of the glass. He dipped his finger in and tasted it, proving that it was simply water. Next, he checked all around, in, and under the glass, to make sure there was no trickery. Finally, he found nothing out of the ordinary, and handed the glass back to Emma.

"Proceed," he said flatly.

Emma gave him a long look, before turning back to the water. Slowly, she held up her hand, level with the glass, and uncurled her fingers, showing her palm.

Immediately, frost started to creep up the sides of the glass and the water stopped moving.

After a moment, Emma withdrew her hand and nodded to Mr. Sertori.

The father slowly extended his arm and touched the glass with one finger. Immediately, he withdrew it, shocked.

It was cold to the touch.

He waited a minute, staring at the now-frozen water for a long moment before extending his arm again, this time picking up the cold glass and bringing it to him in disbelief.

Eyes wide, he poked the surface of the water with his pointer finger. To his horror, he found it was frozen solid.

Still not believing what he was seeing, Mr. Sertori flipped the glass over and shook it wildly but no water came out.

Looking as if he was going into shock, Mr. Setori set the glass gently back down on the coffee table before leaning back in his chair, lips moving soundlessly and eyes wide.

Rikki, smirking at the sight of Mr. Sertori's shocked face, then reached forward and grabbed the glass. Placing the frozen water in front of her in clear view of Cleo's father, she held out her hand like Emma, fingers flat, and palm showing. Then, as Mr. Sertori watched in growing horror, Rikki curled her fingers in towards her palm.

Gradually, the frozen water began to steam. Before long, the water had completely liquefied, but Rikki didn't stop there. She continued curling her fingers until the water was boiling and steaming like a pot on the stove. Only when she could curl her fingers no more, did she stop. Smirking, she pulled away and nodded at Mr. Sertori.

The fisherman gingerly held out his hand and touched the glass, then pulled it back with a yelp, clutching a small burn on his finger where he had touched it.

Eyes bugging, he looked from the steaming glass to Rikki, the glass, Rikki, and then back again. His lips moved soundlessly in disbelief.

Rikki was smirking so big, Emma thought her face was going to rip.

"_Now _do you believe us?" she asked.

Mr. Sertori nodded numbly, eyes wide in horror. He looked like he was about to faint.

Emma sighed. "Well, I'm glad we got _that _figured out," she muttered, turning to Rikki. "Are you happy now?"

Rikki's smirk, if possible, widened. "Oh, yeah," she said.

"Good." Emma said, leaning back into the couch and closing her eyes. "Now we can get back to-AHHHHHHH!"

Emma rocketed off the couch with a shriek, clutching her arm, the same time Rikki let out a startled swear.

Both girls looked in horror at their suddenly wet clothes, before looking up to see Mr. Satari holding a water bottle, cap unscrewed, and a smile on his lips.

"Now let's see this for real," he said.

Rikki had just enough time to swear again before both her and Emma fell to the ground, their bodies shimmering like water before reappearing again with two long, orange fish tails sprawled over the coffee table and couch.

"Thanks a lot," Emma muttered sourly at the shocked Mr. Sertori, who was staring at them with wide eyes, slack-jawed. He had clearly thought their powers were a hoax, and that he would prove that they were not mermaids.

Apparently, he was wrong.

After a moment of stunned silence, Lewis got up and went to grab a towel. After a quick dry off, the two girls were thankfully back in human form.

"Happy?" Rikki grumbled.

"I…you…water…tail…" Mr. Sertori murmured, staring at Emma and Rikki's legs. "

How?" he finally managed to say, sinking into an arm chair.

"We're mermaids like we said we were, that's how," Rikki growled. "And so is Cleo. _She's _stuck in a tank being poked in prodded by scientists, and it's up to _us_ to get her out. If you don't want to help us, then _fine_."

Rikki then grabbed her notebook and started sketching another escape plan for Cleo furiously. Emma and Lewis looked at each other for a moment, and then joined her.

After a while, they heard Mr. Sertori get up and heard the door close.

Only once she was sure he had gone did Emma look up from her notebook. "I really thought he was going to help us," she said, staring at the door.

"So did I," Lewis said, setting down his notebook as well.

"Good riddance," Rikki murmured from behind her notebook. "We don't need him anyway."

"But he might have had some better ideas then us…" Emma muttered in slight disappointment,, before sighing and turning back to Lewis and Rikki, "I don't think any of ours are going to work anyway."

"One of them will," Rikki said firmly, but Emma and Lewis could tell she wasn't sure about that either.

They sat there in silence for a while, Emma only getting up to get them a quick snack, since it had been a couple hours since they had last eaten, before returning to her planning.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang again, the loud bell reverberating through the house and breaking the tense silence.

The three teenagers looked up from their blank notebooks and looked at each other in surprise.

"But…my mum and Elliot aren't due back for hours!" Emma exclaimed, confused on who the caller might be.

Standing, she went to answer it, opening the door…and jaw dropping into a big, fat O.

There, on the doorstep, stood Mr. Sertori, holding an assortment of different tools, some plywood, a couple stacks of paper, and a ladder.

"Sorry it took me so long," he said cheerfully, setting down his materials except for the stack of papers and letting himself in, walking right passed a stunned Emma. Entering the living room where Rikki and Lewis sat, watching him in shock, Mr. Sertori set down his papers on the coffee table with a THUMP and began to spread them out.

"Gentleman and mermaids," he said grandly, standing to address Rikki, Lewis, and Emma,."I have a plan!"

.

.


	7. The Plan

Cleo sat in the corner of her prison, tail pulled up tight against her with her arms wrapped around herself, shivering. She refused to let herself open her eyes. She didn't think she could handle it. Seeing the bare tank. The dark room.

It was after working hours. Late. Cleo didn't know how late, there was no clock in this horrible lab. But possibly a little after midnight. She knew she should be getting some sleep, but she couldn't bring herself to. It was so hard to fall asleep in the tank. It was just so…so…abnormal!

"Psst!" A voice hissed, breaking the stony silence. "Cleo!"

Cleo jumped, causing the water around her to froth a little. She opened her eyes a fraction and they widened as she caught sight of her visitor.

"Lewis?" she whispered, uncurling herself and flicking her tail slightly to propel herself to the edge of the glass. Lewis's blond head was poking out from under one of the lab tables, eyes darting this way in that, obviously nervous. "What are you doing here?"

"Shhhh!" he hissed. "Pretend you don't see me. Pretend you just saw something on the floor of the tank!"

Cleo knit her brow, confused, but did as he said, swimming down like she was inspecting something on the floor.

"Good," Lewis said. "Now, do you see that security camera in the corner to your right?"

Cleo looked. "Yeah," she whispered.

"Is it moving at all?"

Cleo shook her head, turning back to him. "No."

Lewis sighed in relief. "Good," he said with a grunt, crawling out from under that table. "Sorry about that, but I couldn't risk getting caught on the security cam. I hacked in and shut it off temporarily, but I couldn't be sure. Luckily, they don't record sound anyway."

"Lewis, what are you _doing _here?" Cleo asked. "You can lose your job if you're caught!"

"I don't care about my job." Lewis said seriously, looking Cleo square in the eye. "I care about _you._ Besides, I hate working for that witch anyway." Cleo had to give him that. She hated Dr. Braveman with every inch of her being.

"How'd you get in?" she asked. "I didn't see or hear you."

Lewis smiled sneakily. "I snuck in during hours," he said. "In an oversized lab coat so no one would recognize me. I ducked under that lab table when no one was looking, and hid there till after hours."

Cleo gawked at him. "You hid there for _three hours?_"

Lewis smirked. "It was worth it," he said lightly, eyes sparkling.

There was a small silence in which they smiled at each other.

Then Lewis broke it. "I came to fill you in," he explained. "We have a plan to get you out of here."

Cleo brightened. "You do?" she asked excitedly.

"Yeah." Lewis said, just as excited. "We do. Your Dad came up with it."

Cleo visibly paled, eyes widening. "My…my Dad?" she repeated weakly.

"Um…yeah…" Lewis said, scratching his head uncomfortably. "Dr. Braveman called him. He…he knows."

Cleo bit her lip and she sank to the bottom of the tank.

There was silence for a couple minutes.

"How…how did he take it?" she asked softly.

"He…uh…he didn't really…believe it at first," Lewis admitted slowly. "But he seems to be handling it okay now. His main priority is getting you out."

Cleo nodded in understanding, still a bit numb.

Another short silence followed. Then Lewis cleared his throat. "Uh, well, down to business," he said uncomfortably. He pulled out a piece of paper out of his pocket and smoothed it out on the lab floor so both he and Cleo could see it. It was a map of the building.

"Here's the plan," Lewis explained briskly. "Our main priority is getting you out without anybody seeing you, or knowing that it was us who smuggled you out. We're going to try and make it look like you escaped on your own, that way we won't end up with everyone arrested. Make since?"

"Yeah," Cleo said, staring at the map. "But how are we going to do _that_?"

"That's what we've been working on," Lewis said, pulling a red Sharpie out of his pocket and drawing a rectangle around one of the rooms. "That's your tank." he said, pointing to it. "Now, there are two exits out of this room. One, the emergency exit beside your tank." He circled it. "The other, the main entrance/exit." He circled that too. "The emergency exit would be too obvious an escape route, so we came up with something else. Here's what going to happen."

He sat back, looking at Cleo. "Rikki, Emma, and your dad are going to disguise themselves as night janitors. I managed to grab the time schedule off Dr. Braveman's desk yesterday, and we know what time the shifts start and end. I'll intercept them and tell them that they have the night off, so Emma, Rikki and your father are free to take their places unnoticed. I've already smuggled out some spare uniforms."

Cleo smiled. "Brilliant!" she exclaimed.

Lewis smirked. "Your Dad had it all figured out," he said humbly. "There were only a few things we needed to tweak."

Clearing his throat, he continued. "Next, once their inside, Emma is in charge of going in to clean _your _lab room. While she's moping, she's going to accidentally unlock your tank. We've figured out a way to make it look inconspicuous on tape, since they would suspect outside work if I hacked the security cameras and shut them off. That's why we have to do it like we are."

He glanced up at Cleo. "You following me so far?"

Cleo nodded and Lewis bit his lip. "All right," he continued, exhaling. "Once Emma springs you, she'll leave a laundry cart on the side of the tank. Then she'll go mop under one of the tables, her back to you. Wait until she does this, before slipping out the top of the tank and jumping into the laundry cart and covering yourself up. That way, if you meet trouble, no one will see you."

"The next step is tricky. Emma will finish moping and wheel you out. Then she'll put the laundry cart—and you—into one of the janitor closets and lock you in."

Cleo looked horrified. "What?" she exclaimed.

"Just here me out," Lewis said reassuringly. "Once you're inside there, you'll be free from security cameras. No one bothers putting cameras in janitor's closets. Inside, there's an air vent on one of the walls. It connects to another janitor closet down the hall. Rikki will be in that janitor closet. She will have cleaned a room near there already to throw off suspicion, before going in that closet to meet you. What _you _have to do is get out of the laundry cart, open the air vent—which Emma should have already unscrewed—and crawl through to the other end. Rikki will help you from there and put you into another laundry cart. No one will suspect that you switched janitor rooms, and the cameras won't catch it. Rikki will wheel you to the back door, and your father will wheel you to the laundry truck to supposedly drop off the laundry…which we'll do to throw them off even more. When they come in the next day, they won't know how you got out!"

Cleo smiled. "It's brilliant!" she said earnestly, looking at the map that now had red marker lines all over it from Lewis explaining the plan.

"It should be fool proof." Lewis said, smiling. "If we don't run into any uncalculated obstacles, that is."

"When are you going to do it?" Cleo asked.

"We were thinking the night after tomorrow," Lewis said. "It's too late tonight; the workers will be here in a few hours."

Cleo frowned. "Why not tomorrow night then?"

Lewis grimaced. "It's the festival tomorrow night," he said with a frown. "Remember? There's that big party on the beach all night?"

"Oh, yeah…" Cleo murmured. "I forgot that was coming up."

"They are too many people," Lewis explained. "We can't risk it. You'll just have to hang in there for another few days."

Cleo smiled, putting her hand on the glass. "I can do it," She said firmly, hope flaring in her chest for the first time in days. Lewis putting his hand on the glass too, his longer fingers outstretching hers on the glass. There was warmth in his eyes when he looked at her. "I _know _you can," he whispered.

The sound of footsteps brought them both to their senses. "Someone's coming!" Cleo hissed in horror. Lewis paled before diving under one of the lab tables awkwardly, covering himself with the tablecloth.

"Curl back up in the corner like you did before!" He hissed at Cleo from underneath, his head briefly sticking out, before retracting back under. Cleo obliged, flicking her tail and racing back to her little corner, curling up again just in time.

Dr. Braveman entered the room seconds later, flicking on the lights as she came in. "Good morning, my pretty little mermaid." She greeted Cleo. "How do you like your little home, hmmm? Roomy? I thought so." She stalked over to the tank, tapping on it lightly with her knuckles. "Very thick glass. Hope you haven't been trying to get through it."

Grinning evilly, she turned to Carl, the young photographer who'd entered with her. "Snap a picture and then get the required paperwork," she ordered. Carl nodded, raising his camera. "Smile darling!" Braveman said, but Cleo stayed firmly curled in a ball for the picture.

Once Carl had left, Dr. Braveman squatted down next to Cleo. "You're going to get me a lot of money, you know," she whispered through the glass. "Once your transfer two nights from now is complete, the Marine Research Association in California will pay me _millions _for you!" She laughed happily. Standing up, she made to leave the room, but stopped at the doorway, hand on the light switch. She looked at Cleo, hard brown eyes digging into Cleo's soft ones. "Thanks for swimming straight into my net," she snickered, before shutting the door behind her with a snap.

There was a long silence in which Cleo let the words sink in. Then it hit her with full force. She was being transferred. To California. Two nights from now! Horror filled her, and invisible tears ran down her cheeks. This was horrible. This couldn't be happening!

"Pssst, Cleo!" The voice almost made Cleo scream. Lewis! She'd forgotten he was here!

"What?" she whispered, her voice sounding slightly choked, a weird combination with her already-off underwater voice.

"The camera, is it moving again?" he hissed.

She checked. "No." she said.

Lewis's head appeared again as he crawled out from underneath the table. His face was pale.

"This isn't good," he said gravely.

"What are we going to do?" Cleo wailed.

"We're going to have to get you out of here the night _before _they transfer you," he said, furrowing his brow in though. "But that complicates things. We'll have to be extremely careful not to get spotted with the party at the beach going on, not to mention traffic will be very slow. But I don't think we have another choice." He paused, biting his lip.

"What is it?" Cleo asked worriedly. "Will it not work?"

"No, it should still work," Lewis said comfortingly. "It's just…I feel like I'm forgetting something. Something important about tomorrow night…I just can't place it."

He sighed, looking at Cleo. "I have to go tell the others about this. Plan on us busting you out tomorrow night, all right?"

"All right," Cleo said, sighing tiredly.

"Okay." Lewis said, pushing open the emergency exit door. "I'll see you soon then."

"Lewis?"

Lewis's head poked back into the room. "What?"

"What if…what if this doesn't work?"

Lewis grimaced. "Let's…just hope that it doesn't come to that."

.

.


	8. The Moment of Truth

Emma woke up not long before 11:00 AM, still slightly asleep as her eyes adjusted to the light pouring in through her window. Her mind and body were completely at peace for a couple seconds, until her mind woke up entirely, and she remembered what this day meant.

Cleo. Dr. Braveman. Their plan.

All sense of calm gone, Emma jumped out of bed and hurriedly got dressed. She wanted to head over to Cleo's house as soon as possible. Mr. Sertori had told them to meet him there around four in the afternoon for final preparations, but Emma was the type of girl who needed extra extra preparations. Plus, she had a feeling Mr. Sertori was going through a lot, with finding out his daughter is a mermaid and all. He probably needed the support, and Emma doubted Rikki would give it to him.

Taking the steps two at a time, she approached the kitchen, slowing down her pace as she noticed her mother in it. She put on a casual face and strode in. "Hey, Mum," she said normally, giving her mother a kiss on the cheek.

"Good morning Emma," her mother greeted her. She took in Emma's clothes in with a look of surprise. "You're dressed early," she remarked. Usually, Emma stayed in her PJ's for a few hours, texting and reading a bit when she woke up.

Emma shrugged. "I thought I'd go over to Cleo's for a while," she said matter-o-factly, careful not to let anything slip.

Her mother eyed her suspiciously. She glanced at the clock. "At 11:00 in the morning on a Saturday?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Emma thought fast. "She texted me," she lied. "She asked me if I wanted to come over later, and I asked if I could come over now because I was bored. She said yes, so I was going to go over there now."

It seemed like a pretty good story, but it didn't look like Emma's mother was buying it. "Can I see your phone?" she asked, clearly wanting to see these supposed texts for herself.

Emma's pulse raced. She couldn't let her mom have her phone and see she was lying!

"Um, maybe later Mum," she said quickly, backing out of the kitchen before her Mum could stop her and breaking out into a run toward the door. "Cleo's is expecting me. See you later!"

Hand on the handle, Emma flung open the door and ran out as fast as her legs could take her. She could just make out her name being yelled out from behind her before she was out of the yard and racing down the side of the road towards Cleo's house.

She was sooo going to be grounded.

~O~

_Ding-dong!_

The merry chime of the doorbell rang in the Sertori house, and Mr. Sertori and Kim perked up at the sound.

"I bet its Cleo," Kim murmured in disgust. "She probably was out partying with her friends all night."

Mr. Sertori bit his lip uncomfortably, fairly sure that it _wasn't_ Cleo. But he hadn't told Kim anything about what had happened to her. One, he doubted she would believe him if he mentioned it, and if she did, number two, she would go and tell all her friends that her sister is a mermaid until she finally got around to proving it to one of them. Then all hell would break loose, and it might end up even worse than the situation the Cleo was in now. He couldn't tell her. Not at least until he was sure she was old enough to keep it a secret.

"I'll get it," Kim said reluctantly, as the bell rang a second time.

She got up from the couch where the two of them had been watching TV and crossed over to the door. She opened it, and cocked an eyebrow to see Emma standing there.

"Hi, Kim," Emma greeted her politely.

"Cleo's not here," Kim said rudely and started to close the door, but was stopped by a hand in the crack between it and the doorframe.

"Hello, Emma." Mr. Sertori said, wrenching the door out of the grip of his daughter, who scowled. "Please, come in."

"Thank you," Emma said, walking inside the house and following Mr. Sertori into the living room, where they both sat down.

"Kim, why don't you go play with some of your friends while I talk with Emma?" Mr. Sertori suggested.

Kim scowled. "Why do you want to talk with _her_?" she asked suspiciously. "Is there something up with Cleo? Is this why she's not here?"

"Just go up to your room and stay there, please." Mr. Sertori said, straining to keep his voice pleasant.

Kim opened her mouth to argue, but the stern glare from her father made her think better of it. She stomped off to her room sourly, leaving Emma and Mr. Sertori alone.

"Sorry about that," he sighed.

"It's okay." Emma said, smiling in understanding. She was sure Elliot would do the same thing.

Then the demeanor in the room changed.

"Have you heard anything on Cleo?" Mr. Sertori asked worriedly, leaning forward.

Emma shook her head. "No, not since last night when Lewis told us about the transfer. We're still going ahead with the plan tonight."

Mr. Sertori sighed with relief, clearly having been worried something had happened. "So why are you here so early then?" he asked the mermaid.

Emma shrugged. "I thought we'd just go over the plan a couple more times. I don't want anything to go wrong, and I feel like we're missing something…"

Mr. Sertori nodded. "I know what you mean," he said, slipping his copy of the plan of his pocket. "So let's go over it again then…"

~O~

At three, Mr. Sertori and Emma were joined by Lewis, an hour early so that he too could go over the plan before it was time for the final preparations. The three of them went over the plan another ten times before Rikki arrived, a little after four o' clock. She rolled her eyes to see them all hunched over the plans like vultures.

"You're really all taking this too seriously." She said, sitting down on the couch with the rest of the rescue crew. "Where just breaking in and getting Cleo out. It's not that big of a deal."

"Not that big of a deal?" Lewis asked, aghast. "We're practically breaking the law!"

"So?" Rikki huffed.

Lewis shook his head in disbelief. "You are unbelievable," he muttered.

Rikki smiled. "Thank you!" she said genuinely.

"Stop it you two," Emma said sternly. "We need to focus. Let's go through the plan again."

They went over the plan one more time, each of them reading it in silence. When they were all done, Emma scanned the room. "Do we have everything?" she asked.

"We have the janitor overalls and caps, the laundry baskets, maps of the building, four copies of the plan, and other assorted janitor props to make it believable," Lewis rattled off.

"Where are they?" Emma asked.

"In the garage," Mr. Sertori answered. "I didn't want Kim to see them and get suspicious."

"You didn't tell her then?" Lewis inquired.

Mr. Sertori shook his head. "How could I?" he sighed. "I can't very well go up to her and tell her that her sister is a mermaid! She would tell the whole world, if she even believed me."

"Yeah, we can't tell her," Rikki said flatly.

"Not to mention we wouldn't be safe either," Emma said, looking at the blonde. "If she knows about Cleo, it won't be long before she puts two and two together and realizes we're mermaids too."

Rikki bit her lip. "Now _that _would be bad," she muttered.

"Let's stay on track," Mr. Sertori said, reeling everyone back in to the reason they were here in the first place. "We have all our equipment. We've established that. And everyone knows the plan, right?"

Everyone nodded. "Only drilled into our brains a hundred million times…" Rikki murmured.

Mr. Sertori nodded. "Good." He glanced at his watch. It was almost six. Time had blown away.

"All right," he said. "We'll go over the plan one final time, than everyone will need to change into their appropriate gear. The research center closes at seven. We'll leave and take up our positions there at six fifty. We'll have ten minutes, the shifts for the janitors switch at seven, and everything will go according to plan. Lewis has already told the actual janitors for your shift that they have the night off, so it should be only a matter of walking up to them and switching with the current shifts janitors. Got it?"

Everyone nodded. "We can't let the janitors see our faces though, right?" Rikki asked.

Emma nodded. "Not at all, in case someone questions them once we spring Cleo. And we need to keep our faces hidden from the cameras as well. Luckily, the janitor caps should make that fairly simple. Just don't forget."

Rikki nodded. "Got it," She said.

"Do you have the laundry truck?" Lewis asked Mr. Sertori.

Cleo's father nodded. "Rented it from the Laundromat this morning," he informed them.

Lewis smiled. "I think we're ready. Did we forget anything?"

No one said anything.

"I think we've got it covered." Mr. Sertori said confidently.

Emma bit her lip quietly. "Yeah…" she said slowly. "But I still think were forgetting something really important."

Silence filled the room as everyone tried to come up with something they were forgetting.

"Maybe it's just nerves?" Rikki suggested.

"Yeah," Emma sighed. "Yeah, I guess it is."

"Let's go over the plan one more time then," Mr. Sertori said, a smile starting to form on his face as he thought about their brilliant plan. "And then it's time to get this party started!"

~O~

As seven o' clock began to approach, Emma, Rikki and Mr. Sertori went to change into their uniforms. A couple minutes later, they reappeared, now dressed as two janitors with the Gold Coast Marine Research Factuality logo sewed onto their gray overalls, and a Laundromat worker. Only Lewis was left in normal clothes, with his laptop in his hands in case he needed to hack into the research center computers and shut down the cameras if anything went wrong. Both Emma and Rikki had almost invisible walky-talkies wired inside their outfits to stay in constant communication with him.

"Everyone ready?" he asked.

The three of them nodded.

Lewis smiled. "Let's do this thing," he said, and then the three of them headed out into the garage to pile into the hired laundry truck.

The moment of truth had finally arrived.

But as the garage door closed behind them, none of the four of them had ever bothered to glance at the staircase, where a figure was hunched deep in the shadows, listening to everything they'd said since the moment Emma had arrived at the house.

Slowly, the figure stood, joints stiff from sitting in one position for hours, and Kim Sertori made her way down the stairs, a triumphant smile on her face.

She had been right all along. Her sister _was _a mermaid.

And this time, she was going to prove it.

.

.


	9. Dangerous Moon

**(A/N: Hey guys…so…sorry I haven't updated in literally forever. This story has kinda been on unofficial—and now, official—hiatus, but I'm back now. Good news is, I've also edited and revised the first 8 chapters so they are now fixed and much more up to date with my current writing style and skill. Thanks to all who are still with me and all that have reviewed! Sorry once again!) **

Emma and Rikki sat hunched in the back of the laundry truck, doing their best to stay rooted as the vehicle bumped along the road, sending them flying every other minute.

It was definitely not the most fun way to travel.

"I can't _believe _Lewis insisted on sitting shotgun!" Rikki growled for the hundredth time, hair bobbing up and down with the truck. "Seriously! He needs to protect his laptop? I'll give him something to protect!"

"Don't complain, Rikki," Emma sighed, looking tired and stressed. "It'll be over soon. Or at least I hope it will." She frowned at her janitor's uniform, the coarse fabric rubbing against her skin uncomfortably. It was itchy and she hated it. The wires for the walky-talkies were uncomfortable, and she was sweating. The sooner this was over, the better in her opinion.

Rikki mumbled something along the lines of "My plan was better," but eventually shut up.

The rest of the ride went by in silence, the two girls clutching whatever they could to stay in place.

Finally, after what felt like ages, the truck came to a stop.

Rikki gave Emma a look that said "Thank Goodness," and quickly clambered to her feet. Emma followed suit and waited for Mr. Sertori to come round and open the doors for them.

After that, it would all be up to them.

The soft sound of footsteps on gravel announced Mr. Sertori's arrival and a moment later the laundry truck's back doors flew open.

"Thank goodness," Rikki huffed, jumping out of the back of the truck, Emma following her lead. "I was worried you were going to lock us in there."

"Don't make me laugh," Emma said, rolling her eyes. "If anyone would lock anyone in there, it would be _you _who did the locking."

Rikki grinned and didn't even try to defend herself. She knew Emma was right.

The truck's side door opened and Lewis joined the group, clutching his laptop, which glowed with soft light in the semi-darkness.

"Okay, the entrance is right down this block to your left," he instructed. "Now, you'll have to get to your positions quick and—"

"We know, we know, genius," Rikki interrupted. "You only went over it a million times."

Lewis frowned at her. "It's crucial that everything goes according to plan!" he argued. "If it doesn't, we could end up in a tank next to Cleo."

"You mean the two of us will," Rikki said, grinning. "You'll just end up in juvie. Have fun. It's beautiful there this time of year."

"How would you know?" Emma asked suspiciously.

"Uh…well…." Rikki murmured, looking suddenly uncomfortable.

"Stop it, all three of you!" Mr. Sertori said sternly, and everyone shut up. "We need to focus. I want my daughter back from these wackos."

"Agreed," Lewis said, glaring at Rikki. "That's why you need to _listen _to me."

"Listen, smisten," Rikki muttered sourly.

"Actually, Lewis, I think any last minute instructions need to be scratched unless they are really important," Mr. Sertori said, looking at his watch. "It's already dark and we don't have a whole lot of time."

He glanced up at the sky thoughtfully. "It's cloudy, though," he observed. "The clouds are covering the moon, and it might rain. Maybe they'll cancel the festival and make it easier for us."

"Cancel the festival?" Rikki echoed. She snorted. "Yeah, right. That 'll never happen. Not in this neighborhood."

Emma agreed with Rikki, but Lewis didn't even hear. He was too busy staring up at the sky, where a small portion of the moon had revealed itself from behind a cloud. More became visible even as he watched.

His eyes widened in horror.

"Oh no," he said.

Rikki, Emma and Mr. Sertori turned to look at him. "What?" Mr. Sertori asked,

Lewis simply ignored him, turning to Rikki and Emma frantically. "The moon!" he cried. "That's what we were forgetting! The moon! It's a full moon tonight!"

Both Emma and Rikki's eyes widened and they looked at each other in horror. "We need to get out of the open," Emma exclaimed, looking around frantically.

'What?" Mr. Sertori said, bewildered. "What are you talking about? What's going on? This isn't part of the plan?"

"The whole plan will be compromised if either of them gets caught in a moonbeam," Lewis said quickly. "I'll explain later. Right now, we need to get them inside before—"

He stopped short as he looked back at Emma and Rikki.

Both mermaids were standing stalk still, eyes glassy and staring ahead a bit menacingly, hair glowing a bit in the light of the moon.

Lewis looked up to see the full moon shinning right above them, a big, bright ball of trouble.

"Oh boy," was all he was able to say before he and Mr. Sertori were knocked aside by a giant gust of wind, causing them to roll painfully on the parking lot.

By the time the wind had died down and they were able to get to their feet, both Emma and Rikki were gone.

Mr. Sertori looked at the empty parking lot in despair, confusion and hopelessness written over his features, a small cut bleeding above his right eye. "What happened?" he whispered, a bit breathlessly. "Why…how did they…"

Lewis sighed and pushed his wind-tossed hair out of his face. "It's the moon," he said. "It affects all of them. We don't know why. But whenever they come in contact with the full moon's rays, they get possessed and even develop extra powers sometimes. It's even worse when they touch water."

He grimaced and shut his eyes tight, angry. "I should have remembered today was the full moon!" he moaned. "I'm so stupid! I _knew _I was forgetting something!"

Mr. Sertori exhaled, taking in all Lewis had said slowly. "There is no way we can go through with the plan now," he said.

Lewis sighed. "I know," he groaned. "I don't know what to do. I'm almost tempted to just go through with Rikki's plan, but I don't even think that'll work now. At least Cleo will be safe from the moon in the building. That is, unless—"

**CRASH!**

Both Lewis and Mr. Sertori whipped around just in time to see the emergency exit door to one of the research factuality's labs burst open, flying off its hinges as a tidal wave of water came through. As they watched in horror, a figure rose out with the water and rode it like a chariot, orange tail resting majestically on a throne of liquid as the wave rode passed and continued on in the direction of the sea.

"Unless the moonbeams can reach her through the emergency exit door's window," Lewis finished weakly. "Ah no."

"Cleo?" Mr. Sertori called after his daughter weakly, haunted by the cold look on his daughters face as she had rushed passed—literally.

"She's been affected by the moon," Lewis explained again. "She's not in her right mind. Possessed. She won't remember any of this…"

He looked in the direction of the beach. "All three of them are probably headed to Mako," he concluded. "They always end up there."

"Mako?" Mr. Sertori echoed. "Mako Island?"

"Yeah," Lewis said.

Mr. Sertori's face turned grave. "To get to Mako, they'll have to go through the beach into the open waters…"

Lewis glanced at him sharply, before his eyes widened as he figured out what Mr. Sertori was saying.

"Oh no," he breathed.

They looked at each other at each other at the same time, identical horror shinning in both their eyes.

"The festival!" the exclaimed in unison.

.

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End file.
